Putting cart before horse

Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon’s directive to the Toll Regulatory Board to defer cashless toll payments — the first policy of his term — signaled to road system concessionaires to prioritize the public welfare over profit.

The new Department of Transportation chief shook the tree, so to speak, by putting the big conglomerates who run the toll roads on notice about the quality of the service they render.

Dizon’s unequivocal statement that the cashless system is anti-poor indicates to the operators of San Miguel Infrastructure and Metro Pacific Tollways to perfect their electronic collection system before imposing them on motorists.

A cashless system disadvantages drivers without access to digital payment methods and those who rely solely on cash, including taxi drivers, visitors to the city, occasional tollway users and low-income individuals.

The automated system requires a prepaid radio-frequency identification (RFID) account typically linked to an e-wallet, bank card, or reloading station, which assumes that all motorists have access to these financial tools.

On Skyway Stage 3, cash lanes were eliminated post-2021. Cash-accepting RFID installations and loading lanes were reintroduced in 2022 due to a public backlash.

A complete shift to a cashless system, thus, disadvantages users unprepared for or unable to adopt RFID technology, forcing them to detour to non-toll roads or face penalties.

Those without digital literacy or banking access, estimated at over 30 percent of Filipinos based on recent financial inclusion studies, will struggle to comply, reducing equitable access to the expressways.

Yet, the toll collection system in use is far from flawless. It encounters periodic system failures, such as RFID reader malfunctions and network outages, which can paralyze toll operations.

On 17 November 2022, an outage of the Autosweep system caused by a damaged fiber optic cable affected the Skyway, Southern Luzon Expressway, and other SMC-owned tollways, leading to massive traffic jams and the waiving of tolls for 84,000 vehicles.

Without cash lanes as a fallback, motorists could be stranded or delayed significantly and unnecessarily during outages, undermining the system’s promise of efficiency.

Frequent or unresolved technical issues erode the public trust and increase travel unpredictability, especially on critical arteries served by the tollways.

The lack of a seamless integration between Autosweep and Easytrip (used by Metro Pacific Tollways Corp.) has created confusion after the partial interoperability began in 2022.

To have the tags accepted in both road systems, manual registration and separate accounts are required. Worse, motorists needed to exchange their Easytrip tags for the Neology version to be accepted at Autosweep toll gates.

Interoperability is onerous for motorists since behind the supposed improvement motorists using the Skyway that solely accepts Autosweep and then going on the North Luzon Expressway that uses Easytrip must have both RFID systems or face delays if unprepared.

In effect, the systems remain fragmented, defeating the goal of a unified cashless network.

The inefficiency increases costs and inconvenience for frequent travelers while the average motorists endure a financial burden.

Autosweep requires users to maintain sufficient prepaid balances, with a minimum load upon installation.

Insufficient funds at toll exits cause delays, and real-time reloading isn’t always instantaneous due to payment network lags, a persistent issue SMC has acknowledged during peak travel seasons like last Christmas.

The Skyway’s high toll rates also mean users must preload substantial amounts while not getting full information on their remaining credits at the gate since the system always malfunctions.

Delays in balance updates have led to vehicles being held at toll gates. The lack of updates on the remaining credits disproportionately affects lower-income drivers who put in an exact amount for the day.

Then there’s always the danger of hacking with an imperfect system.

A security expert said a cashless system tied to RFID tags and digital accounts raises privacy risks since vehicle movements and financial data can be tracked. Any breach in the RFID database could expose user information.

It is incumbent on the tollway operators to make sure their systems are perfected before imposing rigid anti-poor cashless payments on motorists.